Archive By Section - State

FREEWAY SANDSTORM CAUSES MULTIPLE WRECKS, 6 HURT: LANCASTER (AP) - The California Highway Patrol has closed a freeway north of Los Angeles after a sandstorm in Lancaster led to several car wrecks that injured six people.

PG&E SUED OVER NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CANAL BREAK: COLFAX, (AP) - Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has been hit by a pair of lawsuits over its handling of a canal failure two years ago that forced thousands of Placer County residents to ration water.

3 WOUNDED IN SAN FRANCISCO SHOOTING: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco police have arrested three people in connection with an early morning robbery attempt that left three others with gunshot wounds.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will pay $81.6 million after pleading guilty on Tuesday to criminal charges of improperly disposing of fertilizer, pesticides and other hazardous products that were pulled from stores in California and Missouri because of damaged packaging and other problems.

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Top water decision-makers from seven Western states plan to join conservation groups and Indian tribes in San Diego on Tuesday to begin hammering out rules for squeezing every useable drop from the overtaxed Colorado River.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Warren Buffett has already helped raise nearly $15 million over the years for a San Francisco homeless charity, and the group hopes someone will again be willing to pay more than $2 million for a private lunch with the Omaha, Neb., investor.

• POLICE SEEK SUSPECTS IN 3 SAN JOSE SLAYINGS: SAN JOSE (AP) - Police are seeking suspects wanted in the shooting deaths of two San Jose teenagers and a man from the southern part of the city who were slain on Sunday.

• MAN SHOOTS DAUGHTER WITH 3 KIDS IN HOME: OROSI (AP) - A California man shot his two adult daughters on Monday, killing one and critically injuring the other before apparently committing suicide while his three young grandchildren were in the home, authorities said.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California lawmakers proposed legislation Wednesday that would require parents to vaccinate all school children unless a child's health is in danger, joining only two other states with such stringent restrictions.

SAN JOSE (AP) - A study released Tuesday shows Silicon Valley's tech economy is continuing to boom, with 58,000 new jobs and 42,000 new residents last year and all indications the record growth will continue.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - There is a growing divide between who earns a bachelor's degree by age 24, with the gap between the nation's richest and poorest students doubling during the last four decades, according to a report released Tuesday.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court questioned Tuesday why the Department of Justice was trying to shut down a large California medical marijuana dispensary in light of recent indications the department would not go after pot stores.

• WATER BOARD APPROVES SANTA BARBARA DESALINATION PERMIT: SANTA BARBARA (AP) - A state board has approved a permit to allow the city of Santa Barbara to restart its desalination plant and tap the ocean to turn salty seawater to fresh water amid an historic drought.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A lawsuit filed by the family of an apparently suicidal college student shot and killed by Los Angeles police claims he obeyed all orders given by the officers and they still opened fire.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Inmate populations are falling in once-overcrowded California county jails since voters decided in November that certain drug and property crimes should be treated as misdemeanors instead of felonies.